Expanding the global reach of effective third-party accreditation for certifiers of agricultural and food products, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the IOAS have accredited the first product certification body (CB) under a new joint assessment process developed as a partnership between the two organizations. Fundacion Natura Certificacion (NaturaCert) of Bogota, Colombia, was accredited by ANSI on November 6, 2014, for the scope Florverde General Regulations. Florverde is a Colombian flower certification scheme that assesses flower growers against an agricultural responsibility standard, sustainability and environmental practices, and adherence to national regulations.

Under the new joint accreditation process, one ANSI assessor and one cross-trained IOAS assessor work together as a single assessment team, providing the expertise of two accreditation bodies working collaboratively. To ensure an effective approach, ANSI trains and qualifies the IOAS assessors as lead/technical assessors for the ANSI Product Certification Accreditation Program, with a focus on food safety. The new ANSI-IOAS joint accreditation is the result of an agreement ANSI signed with the IOAS in 2011 titled, “American National Standards Institute Contract for the Evaluation by the IOAS of Specific Applicants for ANSI Food Safety Accreditation.”

The accreditation of NaturaCert was the first under the new process, with an ANSI lead assessor and a cross-trained IOAS technical assessor jointly undertaking the assessment. The process is now available for all ANSI Product Certification Accreditation Programs in the food safety area (e.g., GlobalGAP, SQF, BRC, IFS, Florverde, CanadaGAP).

“The joint expertise of ANSI and the IOAS will offer tremendous benefit in ensuring effective third-party assessment of product certification bodies around the world,” said Lane Hallenbeck, ANSI vice president of accreditation services. “ANSI is pleased to accredit NaturaCert, and looks forward to the accreditation of many more global CBs working in the critically important areas of food and agricultural safety and sustainability.”

About the IOASThe IOAS is a global non-profit organization based in the USA with globally positioned staff dedicated to the integrity of ecolabel claims, especially in organic and sustainable agriculture. The IOAS assesses the competence of organizations providing certification to sustainability standards in an effort to ensure that producers can work in a fair environment and consumers can trust the products bearing sustainability-related labels.